what i've been up to

Revive

2015-07-26T22:46:00.004+08:00

It seems like I've rested for too long. Time to revive this blog.

So much happened between 2012 - 2015.

Many milestones clocked. Many lessons learnt.

Turbulent times at work and I am finally settling down and taking things with a lighter heart.

Anyway, my intention of reviving this blog, is mainly to share my travel experiences.

2012-05-01T19:44:00.000+08:00

Avengers on Labour day morning with family, what more can I ask for? I saw Brice and Peter too! Brice was with his family, also catching Avengers but at a earlier timing. Saw Peter while we were rushing into the cinema, he escorted me and my sis to the theatre. Haha, value-added service! It's really nice meeting him again after so long.

Well, things have changed in many ways. Oh well. My new job has been exciting so far. Friends have been telling me that they feel as though one of their female friends has just gone for NS (National Service) and is bombarding them with all the stories they herd from their bfs. Regimental.

A while ago, I was on the phone with a friend, she asked if I am sick. She said I sound different. Yea, a sore throat with flu. Haiz. Need rest.

Till my next post.

BUSY...

2012-02-24T23:57:00.003+08:00

A little update about what I've been up to lately.

Just came back from dinner and chilling out at Boat Quay with Koey and Nat! YES, Nat came all the way to s'pore from Australia to meet us! Haha. Just kidding, she was here for a stopover before heading to HK. Brought her to Thai steamboat at circular road and then sat by the river to drink and chat. We wanted to catch the river cruise but it was closed by the time we got back with our drinks from 7-11 :( Two more days to hang out together since we last met during our FJ trip but I could only meet them after 10pm on both days, am on course. Haiz. :(

Was on NLP course last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That 3 days was the most mental of all in my entire life. It is like constantly using mental strength rather than physical strength and at the end of each day, everyone was so tired, mentally. Meta-programming, sensory acuity, mirroring, eliciting states, anchoring, etc.... There will be an exam at the end of the 7 day course in order for me to be certified as a practitioner. I must admit that I felt damn lost and confused till today, there is so much more to learn and explore in this area and I felt we have only touched the tip of the ice-berg. And according to my mentor, Ernest, "the good thing about confusion is that you know what you know and you know what you do not know and you are beginning to expand your awareness to the next level and you turn confusion to understanding". Can't wait to uncover more for the next 2 days!

Monday to Wednesday was spent at the trade fair - Beauty Asia 2012, where booths are set up to open more doors of opportunities for some while others take this as an opportunity to earn extra income by selling their products at wholesale prices to SPA owners, etc. Interesting things happened while I attend to potential business partners and I definitely learnt a lot from this experience. Stories later.

Thursday mornign was the 2nd round of my MHA interview. It was a casual chat with 2 uniform officers and 1 civilian officer. I think I did well for being myself during the interview. More waiting till I know the outcome - in 4-6 weeks..... ........ ........... .............................

Back to PA for work, feels so homely. I like my finance head and AD, they are so nice to me. After they got to know that I had to wait for 4-6 weeks for the interview outcome, they asked me to stick with them. So nice right!? Haha :D

Ok, cannot tahan liao, must go sleep. Nights!

finally :)

2012-02-16T23:32:00.002+08:00

今天，我心中的那块大石终于落下了！最近一个星期，我的日子几乎可以用步步惊心里的一句台词来形容，那就是‘长期忧虑和恐惧’。
I finally got the burden off my chest today! For the past one week, I had been conditioning myself just for today to make sure I give my best performance. To ease anxiety, I had a banana for breakfast. But in actual fact, my tummy is suffering from cramps after some abs training on Tuesday, there are probably a dozen butterflies in my stomach this morning but I couldn't feel any due to the cramps. I was the first to arrive at the scholarship department, was given a updated list of positions to review my choices. I was the second to be interviewed. The first girl wore an outfit which reassemble a typical korean girl. She was quite vocal and she made the interviewers laugh during her time inside there. This added on to my stress level. When it was my turn, I went in and faced a panel of 8. Hello, 8 people in a row all eyes on me, 8 pairs of eyes to be exact. I know I am out-numbered. What could be worse than this right? I kindof anticipated this scenario and it didn't appear too scary to me la, though there were 4 officers in their police uniform. The one who interviewed me was the head of admin and logistics at the spf. She was quite friendly, in my opinion. I did made them laugh too, with some help from the HR people sitting by the side. This is one interview which I go in facing the panel, feeling well prepared and at ease with the atmosphere. Of course, I did my homework too la, writing down all the possible questions that I would be asked and doing research online everynight. All these hardwork paid off. I applied the 3 second rule and I was able to answer whatever they asked. I feel so good after the session. In the past, whenever I walk out after an interview, I would know whether I can make it or not, based on gut feeling la. This is the first time that I walked out NOT having the feeling of 'oh shit, I think I am not going to make it'. Although there were times where I misused 1 or 2 words, but I think overall, they could see that I am well-prepared, 3 sec rule! Haha. I am now waiting for the good news of a possible round 2.

Going for NLP course tmr, trade fair and grassroots event next week! I am excited! :)

Nights ~

Roller-coaster week

2012-02-12T22:24:00.005+08:00

This week passed with ups and downs. More of the ups actually!

Wednesday was the best day ever in my life. I was informed of my interview with the ministry next week! OMG. I was like, jumping for joy at my seat as I refreshed my inbox and saw the email. I was on the phone with Panasonic at the same time so I couldn't really scream for joy, but my tone must have sound excited to the caller on the other side of the line. Haha. I am getting closer and closer each day to having what I want, step-by-step. I am preparing for the day to come and I had tonnes of activities lining up for the next few weeks :) My mood has been like this: excited-nervous-excited-nervous-excited since Wednesday. Haha! Really excited!!!! :)

Trained on Thursday and I think the senior who came to teach us the bunkai almost vomited blood. Haha. We went back to refresh and to train sincerely. So let's be patient with each other :)

Friday is always the day which I display my most abnormal side. I was supposed to meet gffs at douby ghaut and head for holland v for our xlb. Firstly, my sense of direction went wrong, almost. Secondly, I repeated 'liver' like 5 times to Estella when she asked for it, each time in a different tone, just imagine. Thirdly, I forgot that I couldn't take lactose and I ordered hot PURE vanilla. I thought vanilla was not milk. They went: Vanilla not milk then what???

Saturday morning was spent with my tuition kid, Vivian. She was so scared of going to the toilet by herself as she said she heard noises when she was inside the toilet. So I accompanied her to the toilet and waited for her outside. We heard the siren of the ambulance as I was teaching her math and she looked at me with innocent puppy eyes. I told her: 'Maybe someone.....' But before I could finish my sentence, she went: 'STOP! Don't say, don't say, I will have nightmare!' Haha, so cute right!? She is 8 this year :) Headed for science class after that to get ready my materials for next week's lesson. Went home and played cashless monopoly(it has a credit card system, cool?) with sis but I fell asleep half-way through. Had dinner with Brice, LiYing,Cheng, Roseann, Raeann, Kelly, and XinYing! It was a belated birthday celebration for XY :) We had the usual Singapore hawker must-eats at Chomp Chomp. Something happened before we had a chance to take a group photo together. But I am glad that the energy of our group wasn't affected too badly. We had udders ice-cream and I ordered baileys flavour, liying had the expensive durian flavour while roseann had holick ball and earl gray while raeann had crunchie mix and raspberry :)

Happy belated XINYING!

Excited for the week ahead! Grandma was telling me to go pray before my inter, and I told her, this is really 零时包佛脚! (start praying only at the last minute!) LOL.

Dailies

2012-02-07T23:26:00.005+08:00

Disclaimer: The following post is like a plate of Rojak, its about everything.

Here we go!

I took a new passport photograph recently and I think it looks the prettiest and most professional to date. To the extent that I told my sister: if anything happens to me, use that as my photo. She knew what I meant and asked me to shutup. LOL!

Actually I really hate taking passport photos or formal photos. Meaning I will never go take it if not for official purposes. I can never give the right expression, which made me so pissed at myself! Those are the kind of photos where you can't really smile widely or don't smile at all cos it will make you look so fierce and unapproachable, a minus mark if that was submitted with your resume to the hiring company. I find it very difficult lor, somebody teach me please. Haha. But my woes are over now! Cos I managed a shot (after numerous attempts of exercising my face muscles) which will last me for at least the next 5 years, or maybe 10? Haha, whatever the case, no more formal passport photo shoots for a long time :) Happy :) And the most amazing thing is, my dad took the photo for me using my Olympus, in his brightly lit office and then using his com, trim it to passport size, duplicated it 24 times and converted the file to PDF format. Lastly, printing it on photo paper. Smart right? Haha.

Panasonic got back to me after like one and a half months telling me that they are keen to conduct an interview session with me. It came a bit late but I shall go for it and decide later - apply the strategy of 'grab first, decide later'.

Training today was good. After taking a break for a month, my moves became kind of rusty. My 2 closest senseis looked at me and Grace and shoke their heads. Well, I am going to do better on Thursday, watch me. Hmph! I am down for scoring offical duty in this coming April's international tournament! Yay! And there will be D&D too, but the ticket is like $110? Talking about fees, I want to complain. Just a year ago, the subscription fee increased to $50 per month, just today, I was told they revised the fees (again) to $60. Argh!!! Getting more and more expensive! I want to get my black belt soon before they increase the fees again!

Well, I've learnt something recently. I tend to envy my friends for the things they have, their achievements and their life. I got tired of that and I looked back at the things I have, my achievements and my life. Things I have, other people don't. And when we gain something, we lose something, its like the universal rule cos we can't have everything. If we have everything, we wouldn't be human anymore. What I see, or what you see, are all very surface stuff. But again, going in depth doesn't mean we will get something out of it too. The best thing I like to do while taking a bus ride is thinking about happy memories. Memories stay forever. They don't change. People change and time changes. I change. I find it pointless to do some of the things I used to do in the past. Or maybe the real reason could be I don't want to be doing those things which I find, fruitless. Relationship will the hardest subject if it is ever a subject we have to study in school. Sometimes I wonder if I would be seen as 'heartless'. fyi, I have a heart, when I appear 'heartless', its just that I don't want to attach any feelings to anything or anybody, I am afraid that I will not be able to control myself if I put too much feelings into the things I do. When I do, I get hurt most of the time.

This is probably 1 post that I share so much about myself. I am a misunderstood kid. I bet after reading all these, you will still be trying to figure out what kind of a person I am. Haha. Chillax. I am done with emo-ing!

That's all for now. Time to catch my korean drama! :) Nights!

Dailies

2012-02-06T22:52:00.005+08:00

Its a vicious cycle. They did it to me, and we did it to her. 同样的处理方式，唯一不同在于受害者。人性就是那么深不可测，背后捅了你一刀，另一边有对你微笑握手，当作似乎什么事都没发生过。我一眼就看穿你们的演技，一点也不高超。曾想要原谅你们，不过一想到这份友谊随着时间，慢慢的淡化，大家渐渐的疏远（应该只是我和你们吧！），各自忙着自己的生活，谁也不‘打扰’谁。再三的思考，好像没有什么值得我留恋的。心结也随着时间，渐渐的松开。我成功了。成功的抛开内心所有的挣扎。谢谢你们，我人生里其中一堆路人！

Now, a little update about today. Took half day leave to attend a briefing. As I walked towards the twin towers, I rummaged through my bag for my IC as I need to exchange for a visitor pass at the guard post. I couldn't find it in my wallet. I couldn't find it anywhere in my bag either. I could feel my heart beat faster as I approached the guard and ask if I could use my driving license for exchange. Thank goodness they took it and issued me a pass. Went through the screening and made it to the seminar room in time. They showed us a video and a list of jobs available. Filled-up some forms and pray hard that I get shortlisted this week. Really pray hard. I really want this job very very very much.

---

As I laid on the bed beside grandma's, I heard a sound. I thought I hear wrongly but it was grandma screaming, and it got louder and louder. I woke up and went to her side, calming her down. She told me someone was pulling her. She must be having a nightmare. After calming her down, I went back to my bed and fell asleep.

---

Caught the first episode of 995 and I like it!

Jan in a flash

2012-02-02T21:58:00.004+08:00

This January was jam packed with so events and celebrations, at least for me. Started the year off with a new job and my office was awesome. I was told that there is no worries for resources, quality is more important here. Well, I am learning the ropes and now its Feb! Time really flies! Special thanks to 3 groups of people. Thanks to my jungle friends (2 piglets, a cow and a frog) for a cosy but terrifying(being constantly alert of whoever who comes into the restaurant) steamboat dinner. Seriously, why must Cheng choose a frog to represent him among all animals?!?!? Thanks to my junior college mates who took the effort to meet-up despite our busy schedules! Wild honey's all-day breakfast was really good. Haha! I will never forget the things we talked about that night - dragon babies, medical forum and broken chinese! :D Thanks to my gffs who met up with me for my birthday dinner in mid-jan! My life would have been different without you girls!

Chinese new year came really fast this year, exactly one month after christmas! Reunion dinner as usual this year but it started late because uncle went to Malaysia in the afternoon to unlock the factory door for his friend who has forgotten to bring his keys out with him. Grandma wasn't too happy about that. This year, we had one abalone each to ourselves! Grandma has been telling us about that weeks before the dinner and she really mean it! Being the eldest in the family, she went around distributing to everyone of us. BBQ-ing abalone was an inpromptu idea. Out of creativity, some itchy hands placed their abalone on the hot plate and oh-la! It turned out to be quite delicious! We had a game of mahjong after dinner. It rained heavily this year and we didn't get to go to our neighbouring temple to pray at the auspicious hour. At around 2am, mum, sis and sis's bf went to Chinatown to grab all the goodies they could. I helped Grandma with the cooking of the vegetarian curry for our guests coming to visit our place that day. Bro was already snorning away on the sofa. I was so tired that I drove dad's car back home at the early hours of dawn. This year, I wore red on the first day! Daring huh? Ya, I bet this is the only day in the whole year that anyone will see me wearing a bright red dress. I kind of like it though :) New year visits are so fun and enjoyable, well, enjoy the gossip parts, not the questiong part where adults always like to ask about things like whether we are working or not? have a partner or not? when you getting married? etc etc etc.... a whole long list man! Angbao money kind of shrink as we grow older, don't know why... But that's okay. I like catching up with relatives and of course, my teachers, its a yearly affair afterall :)

Grandma almost fainted yesterday night due to skipping meals. Omg. She thinks that she is getting younger. So naughty! I will be staying with her for the next one week or so till she gets better. Hope that things will go well for us!

Nights everyone!

:)

2011-12-02T22:58:00.006+08:00

Hellow~~ The internet is finally fixed!

I am back from another cruise trip - AGAIN. Ya, I know. I sail too often these days, but this time I went with Wynne, so its different! On the first day of the trip, we went for a show and the show started off with the YMCA dance. Nostalgia kicks in. And the cruise ended off with a band singing Child during our dinner. Best.

The week before cruise was spent with a bunch of lovable kids and the resources at the SK workshop! The funny thing is, Ariel and me were on the same cruise trip, staying just 3 doors away from each other and yet, we had never met during our entire 4 days trip. And we found out about this today. Epic! Oh well, after thoughts about the workshop is, I am so impressed by myself that I managed to do a 1 hour presentation to the kids, given just one night notice about it from nothing. Meaning I had to do the slides from scratch, the presentation flow from scratch and just everything. I like :) I like the way boss says it: it's always the last minute work that brings out the best of us. And after the 4 days, one thing is for sure, I will never ever be able to treat some people the same way as I did in the past.

Time for photos :)

At a honey factory in Phuket. The usual touristy kind of place they will make you visit.

With grandma and Wynne :)

Quick update

2011-10-18T13:54:00.003+08:00

PSLE is over, so all my P6s students are probably enjoying the time of their life now. I feel they deserve it, after going through 6 years of formal education just to exchange for this very first certificate, that could determine the next 4 to 5 years of their lives. 10 years ago, my first paper was somewhere near the end of October and results will only be out at the end of the year. But now, these students are going to receive their results in end November. How things have changed, for the better I guess.

I am left with O levels students for 2 more weeks. English and Principles of Accounting. I have heard people say 'you learn best with you teach'. And this is very true, very. I am learning day-by-day, maybe not so much of the content but rather the way to deliver the contents. And I am enjoying every bit of that.

Decision made. Truth learned. Time to pick myself together and move on.

November is gonna be a busy month for me. Good :)

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to this:

Self-realization

2011-10-12T10:31:00.004+08:00

Source

We are living in a world where we take things for granted too often. 我们把一切都当做理所当然。With our fast-paced lifestyle, we give excuses of not having time to do the so many other things we wanted to, sometimes, till the extent of neglecting our loved ones. Why not take some time off, and ponder about about what we are really busy with. By doing so, maybe we can get more in touch with ourselves, have a sense of self-realization, discover a side of ourselves which we never thought we knew and then follow our guts and do what we should do.

Live with no regrets!

bits and pieces of HK 2011

2011-10-10T22:31:00.010+08:00

okok, here comes the long overdue post.

#1 First trip back to China - alone

I experienced total freedom while I was in HK. I do not feel the need to report to anybody everyday and I can decide what I want to do and where I want to go after classes. As promised, I took a bus back to China to spend time with grandma over the weekend during the second week of summer school. Initially, I planned to leave on Friday morning but there was nothing for me to do after class on Thursday afternoon, so I gave GM a call to tell her that I am heading back that afternoon, went back to my room to pack and left school. I called the bus company while waiting for the shuttle bus to the University station. They told me the the 3pm bus was cancelled and the next one will be at 4. I am like.... should I go back to my room and rest or what? In the end I decided that I should just walk around Shatin Plaza while waiting. Just so happen that I saw Saiah on the bus and she was going to Shatin as well! She kept me company and helped me with my heavy bag while we were walking in the mall, that was really nice of her! GM prepared a spread for dinner but there was a jam and by the time I reached our China home, it was 8 in the evening, GM was constantly peeping out at the gate, looking out for me. I was the last passenger to alight from the bus at the bus terminal which used to be a busy hotel in the past, now it looks like a haunted building. It was quite daunting to be standing alone in front of the worn down hotel trying to flag for a cab under the dim street lights (luckily the lights were not flickering). After some waiting, I managed to get on a cab and within minutes, I am back home! I felt so happy to be back for dinner with GM, that was one of happiest moments of the week (consider living with a roommate with a terrible attitude).

Dinner was great. As usual, we went to the market in the morning, had breakfast and went back home, life was slow and easy there. At night, I went to this decent pub with my aunt and cousins. There was a Filipino band performing and there were a lot of ang mohs! I was back after 12 and GM wasn't too happy about that. I got to meet my little cousins on Sunday morning! They are just so cute especially the youngest one, she is three this year and she knows a lot - smart. We had supper just below our house and she dipped her cracker into my glass of beer and she likes it so much that she dips it in before every bite! The supper was so good, even better than SG's. We didn't have an air-con and it was summer so the temperature at night was quite unbearable. GM ordered for a Mitsubishi air-con the very next day, power! I got to enjoy a night of good sleep before going back to HK for another week of school.

#2 Disneyland or mummy?

The cultural tour on week 3 was either Disneyland or Oceanpark. I picked Disneyland as I visited Oceanpark last year. But, mummy is coming to HK on the very same day. I was contemplating on whether to go to Disney first and then meet her at the airport or skip Disney totally and just meet her at the airport. Thank goodness there was a validity period for our Disney tickets, so I did the latter. Went to Shatin and took the airport express to HKIA to fetch mummy. We settled into her hotel at Tsing Yi and I brought her to CUHK and my hostel. We went shopping at Fa Yuen Street that night, it was one of the rare moments that we can spend time together (overseas), and having been in HK for the past weeks, I felt like a tour guide, haha! We went to Shen Zhen the next day to have my hair cut and we did foot massage - tai tai lifestyle (for a day nia) :) She bought her iphone 4 covers and external chargers after much bargaining (she's a pro). I stayed at the hotel with her for that weekend. We had so much fun together! She left for Macau alone while I went back to China, this time bringing a friend along :)

#3 Back to China - with a friend :)

I am glad that I met Hsin Mei on this trip. We were in the same class and I also found out that we both like China a lot! So we went to China together for more shopping.. opps! Haha. This time round it was only a day trip cos we have lessons the next morning! Our travelling time to and fro took up most of the day. Hsin Mei bought a life size Rilakkuma soft toy back! :p We had dinner with GM and then head back to HK at around 6pm. Time was tight. But we only reached HK at 10pm cos of the heavy jam and car accidents along the way. Along the way came a group of HongKong aunties, who just can't stop talking throughout the whole journey back to HK. Not that I am against people talking on the coach, but look at the situation, it was the end of the day where I believed that they also had a tiring day and they were on a bus with other passengers... We could only depend on our ipod for peace.

#4 Skipping island tour for airport

I wanted to go for the island tour so much, so much! But it falls on the very same day which GM and mum is going back to SG. Again, I left HK after Thursday's class back to China again :p This time round, having more experience, I took the earliest coach and arrived in China at 5pm, met up with mummy at the local shopping mall and we went to our uncle's house at the village for dinner with GM and his family. So much good food! I had so much fun with my little cousins again! Two of them are twins and they were just clinging on to me like monkeys :p GM was quite impressed by the way I handled kids when she saw how much fun we had :) On the last night, I decided that I should send them to the airport instead of going for the island tour. They had bought the bus tickets from China straight to HKIA days ago and I had to call up the bus company to book my ticket at the last minute. Surprisingly, they issued 3 tickets to GM when she first paid for 2. It happened that somehow the ticket lady miscounted them, and just nice 2 of the pages stuck to each other, which made her tear 3 pieces at a go. So there was actually this extra ticket left and just so happen that we needed one more seat. Sounds very confusing but I am trying to say that things happen too coincidentally that even I myself find it hard to believe. If not for that mistake made by the lady, I would not have any ticket to the airport. And so, good-bye to China and my relatives on the morning of 23rd of July. I took the airport express back to Shatin then the train back to CUHK after sending them off. Many who went for the island tour said it was disappointing as they had nothing to do at the islands and they got sun brunt in return. I was glad that I gave it up for family time :)

#5 OceanPark again

After I settled down back at the hostel, I went to OceanPark with SueLynn. Crazy right? Thinking back, I really can't believe I did that all in 1 day. China -> HK airport -> OceanPark. The only ride I took was the Pirate ship. We sat in the middle of the ship and yet I screamed like hell. Weak heart I suppose :x Last year, I missed out the jellyfish aquarium but this year we managed to find it! Yay! I think I can stand there for hours and just look at the jellyfishes swim.... We took the cable car back down and headed for dinner.

To be continued...

P.S. Do you believe in mere coincidence?

international russian dolls

2011-10-05T18:01:00.005+08:00

(click to enlarge)

I don't know when my love for Russian dolls started but... Look at this! :)
Russian dolls in international costumes!
I like the Russian, Czeh, Polish and Tibetan designs. The Chinese one looks like something is missing from it..

inspirational manifesto

2011-10-04T13:50:00.001+08:00

daily colours

2011-10-02T23:15:00.008+08:00

Just want to share this photo as I find it calming.

We were at the pink ribbon walk (the breast cancer movement) last Saturday evening.

Everyone was totally immersed in the carnival and the pink gloves dance, we chatted at one corner before the walk flag off. It was an evening where I could rest my mind and just listen to what Estella and Jac were sharing. We even took a photo with a soldier from Star Wars (I can't link star wars with breast cancer...but let's just enjoy what we have!)

Pink balloon (glove) man :p

The ice-skating ring at marina bay sands :) I like the way they improvise this indoor ice-skating ring into the shopping mall. A very good form of family bonding :)

Good night everyone~

Rants!

2011-10-01T23:17:00.006+08:00

People say: Don't make others your priority if you are only an option to them.

It is a fact of life.

It took me 8 years to realised that.

It happened so many times that you guys pushed me to the edge of the cliff and pulled me back again.

That is out of guilt, not sincerity.

The moment I probed, all of you were lost for words.

Many times you guys gave excuses, saying 'this was impromptu, that happened unplanned, blah blah blah.... etc'.

Some simply don't give a damn.

Communication broke down, I thought my number disappeared from all your phones.

I think this just shows how far apart we are now.

Sometimes actions speak louder than words.

No one is there to suppress your activities on FB, it was only your own assumption, because YOU GUYS COULD FEEL THE GUILT EATING ON YOUR FLESH.

What you guys did were not the things that anyone will do to people they call 'friends'.

Its still not too late to realise how superficial this 8 years of friendship is.

Blame it on me that my eyes were covered with stamps all along.

Blame it on me that I hurt those who truly cared for me and made them my option.

Blame it on me that I get angry at every little thing, that's me and friends accept each other for who they are, this is call 'respect'.

BUT.

All I want to say is: Thank you for this important lesson in life :)

Singapore Youths

2011-09-22T14:54:00.008+08:00

I found this while looking through a JET participant's blog. An article about Singapore youths written by an American scholar. So this was what he thought of youths in Singapore.

If I am still 17, I would probably agree with this article but nah, it's really crappy. Maybe somebody should do a case study on youths from all over the world and that research could well be his/her masters/PhD thesis. On a lighter note, I do find that some of the random things he mentioned quite true. Haha.

The Straits Times Digital, March 16, 2009
By Daniel Reimold
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WORLDWIDE, randomness has reached a tipping point - and you can blame Facebook. The social networking site has got millions generating a list of their innermost quirks called, somewhat unimaginatively, '25 Random Things About Me'.

In the past six months that I've lived here, I have worked with, observed and come to respect one native group more than any other.
Youth. So to my friends and family back in the United States, here in Facebook lingua franca, is a list of '25 Random Things About Singapore Youth':

1) They speak to me softly in perfect English, then turn around and scream in Singlish to their friends.
2) They SMS with a speed and frequency that makes my own thumbs sore from sympathy pains.
3) They admit they are apathetic, and speak about it passionately.
4) They complain about the lack of culture on their school campuses, then immediately go back to studying.
5) They wear their emotions and intentions on their chests in the form of T-shirt sayings. A few of my favourites: 'Little Miss Giggles', 'I SMS Your Mum' and 'Are We Having Any Fun?'
6) They are extremely quiet in class, but downright chatty one-on-one.
7) They love David Beckham. They lust after George Clooney.
8) Apparently, procreation is not their forte. At this point in their lives, they could not care less.
9) Marriage is not yet on most of their minds. Instead, they say they want to keep getting red packets of some kind.
10) Romance is not an art many young males here have mastered. I recently overheard two young women complaining that their boyfriends had surprised them on Valentine's Day with gifts - a schoolbag and an external hard drive.
11) They are incredibly, falsely, modest. They know they rock. Just don't tell them to their face. They'll look at you like you insulted their mother.
12) They are way too polite. I asked a young woman to take my picture in front of the Merlion. After she snapped the shot, she thanked me - apparently for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to capture me on film.
13) Speaking of photos, they pose for them everywhere. I recently saw a group of students smile for multiple pictures with their taxi driver at Clarke Quay. He was smiling too. The meter was running.
14) A few engage in 'serious blogging', but most just blog about their friends and pets and upload pictures of last night's dinner.
15) They are very productive during classes - at catching up with friends on MSN Messenger and updating their Facebook status.
16) They remain sceptical of their country's growing global status, often asking me 'Why would you want to come here?'
17) They already express nostalgia for days gone by, at the ripe old age of 17.
18) The few young men who have long hair seem to be teased mercilessly by friends, and hit on frequently by strangers.
19) They catch catnaps at the most unlikely locations - bus stops, campus canteens, even the school library.
20) Their eyes have a tint of worldliness to them, especially the young men who have been through national service.
21) They passionately watched something called 'The Little Nyonya' until recently, but not all will admit it publicly.
22) They think it is funny that Singapore has a professional basketball team.
23) They love their parents, but they definitely do not tell them everything.
24) They love to dance ...
25) But it does not mean they have rhythm.

This list may be random, but they make modern Singaporean youth truly an enigma - a mystery I cannot help but gawk at and adore.
Dr Reimold, 28, is a Fulbright research fellow serving as a visiting scholar at Nanyang Technological University.

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After reading this article, I wanna watch The Little Nyonya again! :)

waiting for sunshine

2011-09-20T18:19:00.003+08:00

The playlist on the right summaries how I am feeling at this period of time.

When things happen, there will be lessons learned.

They never knew that we cry in the night, even when one of us is on the other side of the world.
They never knew that the longer this drags on, the harder it is for everyone.
They never knew that problems can't be solved by avoiding each other.
They never knew that emotional scars are the scars which will take the longest time to heal.
They never knew...

I am emotionally tired.

work, eat and play :)

2011-09-12T12:49:00.000+08:00

We just had our second week of preview. On Saturday night, we were having dinner at the last coffee shop and I told Brice, I miss XinYing! We miss your presence and hope you are doing well in NZ!

Had been busy with tuition and I find myself studying again, so that I can help my students. My Saturdays and Sundays are crazy, it felt like working full-time at LM. Saturday was tuition and preview. Sunday: PSLE Science-Tuition-Preview. Marathon. Ernest was talking to a group of parents about primary school education in Singapore and he touched on languages. I was sitting at the other side of the room listening to him with two other resources when he turned to me and asked me how many new English words had I learnt recently. If not for my students, I probably wouldn't have took the effort to learn the words last week. Anyways, I owe many people a meal! Haha.

Went to Watsons sales with Kelly after preview yesterday and guess who we saw at Bugis junction?

吴尊!!!! Omg! Never seen him in person before since he got famous! This is the best pic I can capture, there were so many people and I think they shut down the water fountain just for this event.

This is kind of out-dated, but well. We went to Marina Bay Sands on the 31st of August cos dad's voucher expires on that day itself! Haha. My little cousins came over and they just loved jumping on the beds and playing with the blankets :)

Beatrice and Hannah, pretending to be asleep! Gabriel was running around the room with JayJay , I can't get a still pic of them!

Haha!

Hannah playing with mom's scarf!

Sept 1: Teacher's day present for Mrs Lim: Handmade cookies! Spent the whole night decorating this at MBS :)

I felt that the lid was a bit plain so I did something simple to it :)

Should write about my HK/Fujian trip soon. Keep a look out :)

Going to catch a movie with Kelly now! Ciao~

dailies

2011-09-06T18:40:00.003+08:00

Though we skype almost everyday, I miss my sister :(

Had been very unhealthy - physically, the past few days.

Steamboat dinner with J, M and E and shisha on friday night. I love catch-ups :) First time trying shisha and first time trying shisha with a sore throat. Well, I only have myself to blame.

I went to the doctor on Saturday morning, he said i need more water and more rest. That day was nephew Jonah's first month party, I went to my uncle's house for some quality family time before heading down to facilitate the first preview of the season. We had dinner and I hit the bed the moment I got home. Too tired.

Sunday morning, my voice was no where to be found but I got a 2 hours class to conduct! I realised videos can do miracles in times like this. I was so glad that the class went well and all my kids were so captivated by the videos of the liquid nitrogen experiments which I show them. I showed them videos about how nuggets were made. Quite interesting. They requested for the video on how to kill a chicken.... omg, kids nowadays. I showed them one and the class became so solemn. They behaved like angels today. I love my science class! There was a P6 girl who came for preview and had difficulties with her english comprehension, received a call from Ernest(in the middle of giving tuition) to go down to office to meet them. Rushed like mad and finally met the girl and her family. Well, so happy to see JJ and Brandon at the preview! Had dinner, head home and knock out again.

This morning: Headache, fever, flu and sore throat - the worse combo ever.
I don't understand. I had been sleeping at 10pm every night and I though I had enough rest. Why? Why? Why?
I hate to be sick!

Pissed. Everything shall end here!

2011-08-27T00:21:00.006+08:00

If you have a problem with me wearing a checkered shirt, too bad, it is because you can only wear flora pieces, which is so not you age - sad!

If you have a problem with me finishing all the food i ordered, too bad, it is because you can only watch me finish my food and slouch in your seat with the left overs infront of you - pathetic!

If you have a problem with me spending my parents' money for the trip, too bad, it is because you are just jealous that you have to fund for yourself - this is totally none of your business!

If you have a problem with me not talking to you, too bad, it is because you are not someone I want to talk to and I don't find a point to waste my time on you - too pathetic!

If you have a problem with me talking to the hostel lady, too bad, I don't live my life for you and I don't need your approval to talk to whoever I feel like talking to - just mind your own business!

If you have a problem with me finding out about your whereabouts, too bad, it is because I am worried that you will come into my room at night to murder me - seriously, I can't believe such people really exist!

If you have a problem with other people using the washing machine and dryer, too bad, it is totally none of your business and you just showed the whole world how childish you were by doing those things - too inhumane!

If you have problems with all your friends, too bad, it doesn't mean that they don't have problems with you - you seriously need to reflect, go lock yourself up in a room and do that!

wtf!

go get a life!

Facebook Manners And You

2011-08-25T12:41:00.000+08:00

Yay~ Weekend is approaching!
Enjoy this video!

I love weekends!

2011-08-22T20:50:00.006+08:00

I went back to SKA for training on Saturday and we did circuit training. OMG. 1.5 hours of stance and movements without any break. Was glad that I drank more water before the training even started if not I would have dehydrated halfway through the training. I went early to revise my kata with Sensei Teng as I missed the recent grading on the 7 of August. Hopefully, Sensei Wong will grade me privately so that I can catch up with Gracie for our black belt grading 6 months later.

Took over PSLE Science class on Sunday morning from Cheng. The kids we got this time round participates more in class, so this kind of made my job easier as it means that they will be attentive throughout the 2 hours and all I need to do is to raise my voice occasionally when they get too rowdy :) I am glad class went well :)

My family made Sushi for lunch as we are going to have steamboat for dinner. No link? Haha. This was grandma's idea as she said sushi is the light meal, while steamboat is the heavy meal, so we have a balance here. We went to Parkway to hunt for 2 birthday cakes. Got the Walnut Cream Cheese Carrot Cake from Cedele for grandma and Coco Exotic from Fourleaves for Josh :) The carrot cake was awesome! Sookwei and me was afraid that our family wouldn't like it but it turned out that everyone loved it, especially grandma!

More photos of Friday night :)

TGIF

2011-08-20T12:33:00.005+08:00

TGIF! I spent the whole Friday morning running errands for my boss. He asked me do exercise before going to Client's place. So I went to Bedok stadium to do a few rounds and had breakfast with Mum and her friend.

Afternoon was spent on clearing documents and studying ISOs. Met up with my girlfriends for dinner at Marche@313 to celebrate Jaclyn's 23rd. We went to Alley bar to chill after dinner and played some games. I couldn't figure out how to this game works even after everyone around the table got it. The name of the game is 'Because lips can touch'. Tell me about it man! In the end they had to explain to me how it works. Another that we played was the 'I never ____' game. So I made everyone drink by saying I never been in a r/s before :) On my way out, I saw 2 of my cousins! Singapore is so small that you can bump into your relatives/friends just almost anywhere and at anytime. They were having a company event at the bar and so I decided to join them after parting from my friends.

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAC!~

And Happy Birthday Huiting! Hope you had an enjoyable night yesterday!

Reality check

2011-08-17T13:11:00.000+08:00

Well, back to reality. Back from HongKong after a long 8 weeks. I had grown and seen a lot during the past 8 weeks. The friendships fostered during the summer school and voluntary teaching had been really awesome and made this summer the most memorable yet. Thank you to all who had made this summer a special one for me!

Let’s face it. Results are coming out next Tuesday. I am going to help out at my dad’s company while searching for a job. Actually, I am quite excited. He’s bringing me along to client’s company tomorrow :)

Met up with Wynne at Suntec for Body Shop sales. LOL. We had dinner at Fish&Co. after that. Our food took so long to come… I think we waited for an hour for a seafood platter for 1. Omg. Good thing is, they offered us complimentary soup of the day and gave us a 10% off the total bill. Great customer service :)

I shall blog about my 8 weeks slowly.